From Host to Manager: The mindset shift needed

Ep#23 From Host to Manager: The mindset shift needed

Hello, and thank you for joining me for another episode of the Direct Booking Success podcast. I'm your host, Jen Boyles. I'm thrilled to be here with you today. How are you? December is right around the corner. Before we know it, it will be Christmas, 2022 will be over, and 2023 will have begun. I’m not quite ready for that yet.

There is still so much to do before 2022 calls it quits. Are you someone who sets goals at the beginning of the year or has a word of the year all mapped out in advance? I've tried the word of the year, and while I like the concept, I am a year behind in having them come true for me. I know I started doing it about three years ago, but I need to remember what that first word was two years ago.

I had the word growth as my focus for 2021. However, it was in 2022. This past year or the growth of my business has exploded. My word of the year for this year, 2022, was health. This was for my business and personal, and I must admit that much has stayed the same. My fingers are crossed that 2023 will be the year I can get more work-life balance and concentrate on my health and business.

I'm sure you resonate with that because we all run our businesses. It is so hard to maintain that balance. I was on a call with a client the other day, and they said they would love a day off, but you know, in hospitality, it's a 24 7 world. I always laugh when I see the property gurus talking about what a passive income stream short-term rentals can be. Of course, it can be a passive income stream if you pay everyone else to do all the work for you, but for me, and I'm going to guess you, too, have to work in your business.

You aren't sitting on a beach sipping a drink with a colourful umbrella. Running a vacation rental or a holiday let is hard work, and it takes a while to get the operational side of the business sorted or at least work for you and your life. And then you throw all that marketing you need to do for direct bookings on top.

And it is a lot

using Airbnb or another one. An online travel agent is accessible. It is easy to sit back and wait for the bookings to come in, but will they just come in? Gone are the days of if you build it, they will come. 2021 was a bit like that. The world was emerging from the pandemic, and everyone wanted to escape their house where they'd been stuck Insides for so long.

2022 has been a bit more of an average year, and those who have become hosts in the past couple of years are having their eyes opened to how this industry is. Are you one of them? Being a host on Airbnb is one thing, but when you take control of your business and decide to get on the direct booking band way in, you become a property manager.

Whether you have one property or more, I always think of the word host as a label of someone just renting out a room or a property as a hobby. You're no longer just a host when you have your own website and marketing plan. You are the CEO of your business and a professional manager.

I have heard from professional property managers, and I'm using air quotes that you can't see. I've heard them say disparaging things about independent managers or owners, that they are above them because they manage properties for others, and this always ticks me off.

If you're doing everything yourself, you have skin in the game; as they say, your stakes are higher because you are the owner and the manager. The buck stops with you. There is no one else now; not all professional property managers come to those air quotes.

Again, I feel this way, but I have heard it a few times. I consider you a professional if you are running a business. No matter if there's one property or many, no matter if you own those properties. Being a professional means to me that you have control and are proactive. This is your profession. It might be that you have another job or not. This is how you earn money, and it's when you have this mindset change you realise that you need more,

more bookings and more money, and getting direct bookings is the way forward. And This is a mindset thing, and I went through it. When I first rented out my first property, it was on Airbnb. The listing went live one morning, and I had bookings coming through that afternoon. It was magic. I was completely sold, and I was entirely on team Airbnb.

Fast forward to the third property in a different place where every building in town was a guest house, a bomb, a holiday rental, and a hotel. There was just no way to stand out on Airbnb. The market was saturated. I had to stop and think, what could I do to bring in bookings? The penny dropped when a previous guest from the previous owners got in touch wanting to book or return Stay direct.

I just realised I could take bookings directly. It was a huge mindset change for me. I was part of the Airbnb team. I had been warned about taking bookings off the platform. However, I then knew that I had to do this to get control of the business and be serious about it being a good business. So I started to contact the previous guests.

I introduced myself and asked them if they'd like to return and stay again. I used my marketing and design background, created a website, and started marketing my property online. It was only successful after some time. It took some trial and error, and I was able to put together a strategy that now means that bookings at my current property are 90% direct.

This happened, you know, long before the book Direct Movement was born. I was aware of the book Direct thing at the beginning of 2020. It was just before the pandemic hit us all. I somehow came across this person helping others with their direct bookings. I took part in one of their challenges, and it was a real eye-opener because I didn't realise that others weren't doing what I was already doing. I didn't know that there were people out there who needed help.

At the time, I was running my property here in England And working at my day job as a photographic art director; the first lockdown hit. Both my business and my career were wiped out in a flash.

And it was so scary. No one knew what was going on and what was going to happen next. I am confident I spent the first part of the lockdown feeling pretty sorry. I didn't see a way out, and watching the news made it worse. . One thing that had been on my mind before the pandemic was, what would I do when my daughter started school the following September?

Because as an art director, I had to travel for work. I had to leave early in the morning and come back really late in the day. It worked okay when she was in nursery, but I didn't know how she or I would cope when the school day was only nine till three. I didn't want to put her in before and after school care every day.

I would never see it. So while I was sitting in the garden with her, playing day after day during lockdown here in England, I was thinking about what I would do, and one day, it dawned on me. I love hospitality. I love what I have done. With my direct bookings, I realised that I could help others with my knowledge, and if that person that I had met online before the pandemic could do it, then I knew with my background skills and knowledge that I could do it.

I had gone from host to manager. I had done it and could help others shift their mindset. So now, nearly three years on, I'm having the best time, and I love it. I love helping others with what took me so much trial and effort to get right, and I'm honoured to be on this journey with you.

Thank you so much for listening. I would love to hear your story. I'd love to know how your mindset has shifted from host to manager, or maybe you're on this journey right now. Get in touch with me on Instagram. You can find me at direct booking success. Please send me a dm.I look forward to hearing from you.